Mark Clay Grove

about this book: This is a semi-autobiographical novel about two antiques pickers, Charles & Emma Dawes, who live in rural Virginia. Be advised literary police: There is NO plot and NO climax. Actually, it reads like a travelogue more than the novel that it is. "The Madison Picker" is chock full of very useful facts, actual dealer war=stories, real-world advice and dry humor. Fifty+ beta readers have given it two thumbs up and you will too if you like Johnathan Gash's "Lovejoy" series, or "The Antiques Roadshow." Buy it for entertainment but keep a yellow highlighter at hand. You're going to want to mark the more useful passages and return later. This is the first title in the series. The second title is, "Some Kind of Good." In it Charles and Emma head to London, and from there to Madrid and Barcelona, before returning to America. Another dealer-couple tag along with them. All four seek what they can buy low to sell high. One of their techniques in their quest is to look for stuff that is under-priced, sleepers. One factor Charles reveals to discover sleepers is location. That which is far from its point of origin is likely to be under-priced. The closer it is to its origin, the stronger its demand because there are always more collectors near a source. The lesson: Demand is the only thing that makes anything worth something. And this is the sort of information that is embedded throughout the novel. Learn and have fun at the same time. For those of you who are already dealers, this is one novel that may just pay for itself!